nation's midsection. the obama administration goes on the defensive after a tough week. while republicans signal they won't back down on the irs, ap and benghazi controversies. more than 100 people in the northeast brace for what could be a commuting nightmare. one lucky customer at this florida supermarket is $600 million richer. the moon takes the biggest hit ever recorded. "early today" starts right now. >> announcer: this is "early today" for monday, may 20th. good morning. i'm betty nguyen. powerful storms just tore through the nation overnight and this morning they have turned deadly. at least one confirmed fatality and a nasty system that stretched from texas all of the way to minnesota. oklahoma was one of the hardest hit where a state of emergency has been declared. more now from nbc's jay gray in

oklahoma city. >> reporter: violent weather ripped across much of the midwest over the weekend. storms lining up and lighting up the radar. spawning dozens of tornadoes. the most vicious hit sunday was in swawnee, oklahoma. the trail of debris stretches across several states now. homes and businesses ripped apart. >> no sooner had we gotten in the basement than we saw heavy wind and heavy rain and after it subsided, we came out and saw that we sustained quite a bit of damage. >> reporter: snapped power lines and stripped trees just outside of oklahoma city two 18-wheelers were pushed on their sides. one left dangling along the railing of an overpass. just like tens of millions across the midwest who continue to be on edge with forecasters warning severe conditions could

continue for the next few days here. jay gray, nbc news, oklahoma city. >> and nbc's bill karins joins us now. what's the concern at this hour? are more people at risk? >> it's starting to die off thankfully for this part of day three on this episode. this is a four-day tornado outbreak. we just finished day three yesterday. this was probably the worse than friday and saturday. 24 tornadoes reported yesterday from illinois, a couple there just outside of des moines, wichita area saw a nasty tornado that was even in a city limits at one point and then the ones you saw the pictures of down there to the east side of oklahoma city. all of the tornado watches are just about expired. there's good. only one tiny piece here in the northeast corner of oklahoma and even that area the weather is dramatically beginning to improve. the only real strong storms left extreme southern portions of kansas and northeast corner of oklahoma over rural areas. it looks like this threat from yesterday is now just about ending. we have more later this

afternoon. i'll tell you about that risk coming up. >> it's not over. thank you, bill. to washington now where president obama wants desperately to get back on message today after a bruising week. republicans have different plans and suddenly a whole lot to talk about. nbc's danielle lee is in washington with all of that. good morning, danielle. >> reporter: betty, good morning. president obama would like to get past last week's controversies but with trouble on three fronts and republicans getting increasingly suspicious, it's not going to be easy. republicans are starting the week by a series of scandals forcing the white house to focus on damage control. >> there's a culture of intimidation throughout the administration. the irs is the most recent example. >> reporter: president obama tried to shift the focus. >> despite sometimes the doom and gloom of what you hear emanating out of washington, you should be optimistic about this country. >> reporter: a senior white house adviser also appeared on

five morning talk shows calling accusations of mismanagement offensive and absurd. >> there's no question that republicans are trying to make political hay here. >> reporter: on capitol hill, two more hearings will look at targeting of conservative groups. >> we need to find out who made those decisions, hold them to account and see how high up the chain it went. >> reporter: republicans are continuing to dig into the administration's handling of the terrorist attack in benghazi. others are criticizing the justice department's seizure of journalist phone records as part of a leak investigation. >> i know what the message being sent is that if you talk to the press, we're going to go after you. >> reporter: the ap says it's losing sources because of the seizure. another consequence the white house contends with this week. despite the controversies, the latest poll just released yesterday shows the president's approval rating is largely unchanged. 53% of americans say they approve of the president.

betty betty? >> thank you so much for that. a widespread dose of computer chaos could be in store for tens of thousands of people traveling along the nation's busiest rail line as metro north workers rebuild 2,000 feet of damaged track following friday's collision between two trains in southwest kentucky. the ntsb is investigating what went wrong and in connecticut alone 125,000 passengers travel per day through the area where the derailment occurred and 30,000 people use the stations where service is closed. if those train commuters take to the roads, officials say they would literally encounter a parking lot. commuters are urged to carpool or work from home if possible. friday's collision injured more than 70 people. nine of them remain hospitalized, one critically. a little extra light is shining on the sunshine state this morning and that is because someone in florida walked into a

public supermarket and bought the single winning ticket for the highest powerball jackpot in history. it's estimated to be worth 590 million bucks. the ticket was sold just outside of tampa. take a look at your ticket. winning numbers were 10, 13, 14, 22 and 52 with powerball of 11. the lucky winner can claim his or her ticket as soon as this morning. stay tuned. we all want to see who that is. let's get serious now. bill karins is back with another look at this severe weather. i understand more is possibly on the way. >> today could be just as bad as yesterday. yesterday was amazing. if you were watching the helicopter pilot in oklahoma city flying as the huge tornado was on the ground. it was incredible stuff and broadcast there live on the weather channel and in the oklahoma city area. today widespread severe weather everywhere in yellow has a chance of severe storms but area

of red that has the greatest chance of seeing more tornadoes. more specifically we're looking at tornadoes forming late this afternoon, early this evening somewhere with supercell thunderstorms near oklahoma city, wichita falls and storm motion across interstate 44 and across interstate 40. those are the big interstates that will be in the way. tulsa and by the time the storms get to arkansas and southern missouri, we'll watch for widespread wind damage. again, we could have more big strong tornadoes on the ground live on tv later on this afternoon into the evening. that's your national forecast. here's a look at the weather outside your window. so today we're also seeing thunderstorms in other areas even on the eastern seaboard but those shouldn't be too severe. notice how warm the temperatures are. a lot of humidity available and this storm is very slow moving. more storms today. and typically these systems head east as they go. this is painfully slow.

areas hit today are the same areas that dodged tornadoes yesterday. >> they thought they were out of the woods when all of a sudden they're back in it. unfortunate. thank you, bill. we do appreciate it. we'll stay on top of that. just ahead, strategy strikes during an fbi training exercise and code orange as a remote alaskan volcano roars to life and a restaurant that puts into its beneficiaridishes what mostt to keep out. we're back in two.

good morning. welcome back to "early today." here are stories making news. syrian forces aided by the militant group hezbollah are moving into a key territory. if successful, it would be a major setback for opponents of president assad. the fbi is looking into the deaths of two of its agents over the weekend. this happened during a training exercise. both were members of the elite

hostage rescue team based in quantico, virginia. a gay parade in the country of georgia was a no go. police guarded several dozen gay activists and bussed them out of the area before it got violent. a former philadelphia police officer once a guest at president obama's first address to congress after being praised for his bravery is actually behind bars this morning. richard is accused of raping two women at gunpoint after making them use drugs. he's being held on $60 million bail. alaska's volcano sent steam and ash 20,000 feet into the sky on sunday. officials say it's not enough to raise the aviation threat for airlines. that's good news. and we are getting our first look at the meteor slamming into the surface of the moon back in march and lit up the sky so bright that it was visible to the naked eye. nasa says it's the largest lunar

explosion they have ever seen equal to five tons of dynamite. stocks begin the week in unchartered star ee eed territo. an announcement is expected today that yahoo! agreed to buy the popular blogging site tumblr. the price for this big deal is $1.1 billion in cash. it's been a year since the big facebook flop and the stock is still down about 30% from its $38 ipo price. the chairman and ceo of jpmorgan chase jamie dimon is under pressure facing tuesday's big vote by shareholders on whether he'll keep both jobs and if not, he may decide to just quit. flights of boeing 787 dreamliners by united airlines resume today for the first time since battery problems in january forced the planes to be grounded.

gas prices at the pump jumped 11 cents in just the last two weeks because of refinery outages. the average national price per gallon is $3.66. great. just in time for summer. >> speaking of, a week before memorial day americans are getting ready for the start of summer vacation but three out of four will have to work at least one hour per day during their holidays. i feel their pain. and stay restaurant in spain, you can work an hour severing food or cleaning the kitchen and then eat a free meal. sounds like a deal, doesn't it? 25% of people in spain are unemployed so this work to eat deal is actually a big help. and in california, an asian fusion restaurant has insects on the menu like scorpions on shrimp toast and stir fried crickets. customers say they are tasty and

similar to crash, shrimp and lobster. rg3 shows off his wedding gift hall. if this is a professional auto race, why are they going so slow? we'll tell you after the break.

let's get the latest in

sports from my colleague, richard lui. good morning, richard. >> good morning to you. it's monday. game one of the nba western conference finals to start out. it was the tony parker show. he scored 20. leonard had 18 blowing out grizzlies. game three of the nhl conference semis. game winning goal and penguins win two games to one in that. and travis wood connects. i got it. no, you don't. over into the parking lot. watch this very closely. cub fans reaches for the ball. >> gets doused with beer. >> gets the beer shower. >> they threw the cup at him. you missed that. david beckham playing the final game of his career on saturday. a great farewell for him. spanish league final.

he gets a straight red card. sideline tussle ensues. punches thrown. an object thrown from the stands hits the goalkeeper in the head in what was a headache of a finish there. it can be rough when you talk soccer in europe. robert griffin iii tying the knot. a fan found his wedding registry. rg3 tweeted this photo thanking fans for helping him with his wedding expense. >> look at all those gifts. that's the way to go. >> it pays to be rg3. now to world car touring championship race qualifying rounds. >> that's a race? that's awfully slow. >> each car trying to win. technique called drafting where you stay behind the car in front of you to avoid the full force of the air. the lead car was going a

whopping 20 miles an hour. these cars regularly go over 100 miles an hour. >> at 20 miles an hour, we could be race car drivers. and a tee shot hit near restroom facilities. the officials ruled the ball must be dropped inside the bathroom toilet. he lost the hole and appetite and he got a smile out of it. >> announcer: "early today" sports brought to you by just for men autostop. gray is over. >> betty, that is sports. just ahead, a look at the new "anchorman" trailer. you're watching "early today."

the storms that produced tornadoes yesterday evening have weakened significantly. they still can do wind damage and that's the case for st. louis this mornin the west side of town is under a severe thunderstorm warning as those storms head your way. who's at risk for more tornadoes? this area of red. storms will form during the late afternoon in areas near oklahoma city down to north texas and then heading over much of eastern portions of oklahoma and into arkansas and missouri later tonight with wind damage. again, we expect another outbreak later today. >> busy day for us. thank you, bill. in entertainment news, "star

trek" was in first place at the box office earning $84 million since opening wednesday. and "ironman 3" was pushed into second place. good-bye to "snl" this weekend but the farewell was hard for seth myers and the beloved stefan. >> god, no. stefan! >> we are going to miss them. and the new teaser trailer is out for "anchorman 2." >> we haven't seen you in a while, america. you haven't changed a bit. >> i have liquor breath and i

want to be your friend. >> i got a new cologne. it's called venom. >> you, stay classy. >> i want more than just that. i'm disappointed in that trailer to be honest. >> come on, it's going to be fun. >> you're bias. >> don't be a debbie downer. it's going to go good. i'm betty nguyen. this is "early today," just the first stop of the day on your nbc station.

a deadly night in the plains.

right now, digging through rubble after strong storms dropped several tornados across several states. the latest from the live desk in a moment. >> welcome to news4 today for this monday, may 20, 2013. let's look outside at 4:26. starting off really warm out there too. >> that's right. 67 degrees outside our studios. there we go, the outside picture. you see a few clouds hanging tough out there. >> and the air is thick with humidity on this monday morning. good morning, as you head out the door, prepare for a summer-like day. right now don't have any more rain around. we have a few passing showers overnight. but right now temperatures under this mostly cloudy sky are rather muggy. we have a few breaks in the clouds south of washington, but overall, quite a bit of cloudiness around. in the low to mid 60s from the mountains to the atlantic beaches. in prince georges county, mid 60s. so is the district of columbia,

arlington and fairfax counties. we'll look at the rest of the monday morning coming up in a couple of minutes. let's look at traffic now with danella. >> good morning. check out a couple of incidents, first, we'll start with an accident at the beltway at van dorn street. it was involving a tractor-trailer, but looks like that car has left. but i still see police on the scene. volume is light around the beltway in this area. if you're traveling baltimore avenue, route 1 southbound at east west highway, south lanes are blocked at that intersection. i'll be back at 4:31. on over to you. >> see you then, danella. breaking news into the newsroom right now. sheriff deputies in oklahoma are confirming right now that one person is dead after a series of tornadoes pounded the plains states. investigators say a 79-year-old man was found dead at a mobile home park in shawnee. that's about 35 miles from oklahoma city. several tornadoes also touched

down in kansas and iowa. widespread power outages are reported. recovery efforts could be tough today. similar weather is in the forecast for much of that area. right now, we are learning new details about the accident that pretty much destroyed a northern virginia office building. i want to show you some pictures now. state police telling us a truck driver fell asleep at the wheel and he plowed into the building in route 29 in fauquier county. no one in the building at the time and it has now been condemned. >> the power and gas have been shut off. the occupier will have to work with the county to get the repairs underway, to get permitted to get back into the building and recook you pie at later time. this morning, arlington county police are trying to identify thieves who broke into a bar. the thieves also stole money from the atm at the crystal city sports pub. they did this without setting

off the alarms or the motion censor sensors. the crew installed a new atm and the pub is back open. the fbi agents killed in a training exercise were members of a special hostage team. chris lorek and stephen shaw died last week. they will say that the agents were part of the rescue team based at quantico. they made headlines earlier this year, they successfully rescued a 5-year-old boy held hostage in an underground bunker in alabama. agents killed his captor jimmy lee dikes who took the boy from a school bus. today, a grand jury expected to hear the case against a taxi driver accused of shooting an alexandria police officer, peter laboy. if there is enough evidence, they will go to trial.